About This Project

Our goal is to develop the use of hair as a novel and non-invasive tool to understand muskox health and predict population trends. Specifically, we will investigate the association of essential trace mineral levels in hair with the health of the individual muskox and, ultimately, use this to predict population trends. This non-invasive tool will have great value for the conservation and management of muskoxen and other wildlife.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Monitoring population health and predicting population trends is at the core of species conservation. However, traditional population surveys are time consuming, expensive, or logistically difficult. This is particularly true in the Arctic, where climate change is happening at an alarming rate and wildlife are at risk. Indeed, widespread declines of caribou (1) and large-scale mortality of muskoxen (2) with ongoing health issues (3, 4) highlight the need for an improved understanding of the health of these species. Assessing the mineral status may be a viable option, as minerals and their tight linkage to animal health, immunity, survival, and reproduction is well documented (5), and could be coupled to population dynamics (6, 7).

What is the significance of this project?

The Arctic is changing rapidly and with that, the flow of trace minerals through the ecosystems is changing (8). Wildlife health in the Arctic is also changing, with iconic and key species (muskoxen and caribou) undergoing disease outbreaks and widespread population declines (1, 2, 3, 4). Trace minerals are essential for life and immunity, yet mineral deficiencies are emerging as population limiting issues for these species. Our research aims to validate the use of hair minerals as a non-invasive tool that provides both an index of individual health and is a prospective indicator of future population trends. Such a tool will have great value for the conservation and management of wildlife populations where traditional monitoring is not feasible.

What are the goals of the project?

Our research will use muskox hair to (i) determine the current trace mineral status in muskoxen across their natural range, and (ii) evaluate the association between mineral status and population health and trends.

We expect when hair concentrations of important minerals are low, we would see detrimental effects on the health of animals and populations trends. The important elements will be selenium, copper, molybdenum, magnesium, zinc, and more. To evaluate the health of animals, we will be testing blood samples for a range of diseases, as well as indicators of inflammation and overall health. Additional health indicators will include information on sex, age, body condition, pregnancy, parasite and pathogen infection/exposure, and clinical symptoms of diseases.